Hemingway and the Fascist Salute
In 1938 the famous writer Ernest Hemingway was upset by two photographs. One showed a line of dead children in Barcelona, Spain, killed by bombs dropped by Franco’s forces in the Spanish Civil War (1936-39). In fact, on that occasion, out of 875 killed, 118 were children. Hemingway wondered who had given the order for that bombing of civilians.
Hemingway was further perturbed by a news item from the New York Herald Tribune that stated that in New York, Patrick Cardinal Hayes was praying for victory for General Franco’s forces in Spain. But what was the second photograph that bothered the author?
It was a photo of Spanish army officers and clergy in front of the cathedral of Santiago de Compostela, in northern Spain, saluting as troops marched past. What was so disturbing about that? Hemingway wrote: “I recognize General Aranda and General Davila . . . and I recognize the salute they are giving. It is the salute of the old regular Spanish army. What I don’t recognize is the salute that is being given by the Bishop of Lugo, the Archbishop of Santiago, the Canon of Santiago, and the Bishop of Madrid. Is that the fascist salute that they are giving? Is that the salute of the Nazis and the Italian fascists?” It certainly was!
The sight of children killed by bombs dropped by Catholics and the Catholic bishops giving the Nazi-Fascist salute baffled Hemingway. Perhaps he was aware that the Spanish Catholic clergy had blessed the civil war in Spain as a holy crusade. Well over 500,000 Spaniards lost their lives in that ideological conflict, which also served as Hitler’s rehearsal for World War II.
What was it that James, Jesus’ half brother, wrote? “O you unfaithful ones, are you not aware that love of the world is enmity to God? A man is marked out as God’s enemy if he chooses to be the world’s friend.” Christendom’s clergy, with few exceptions, have consistently allied themselves with the world’s political and military rulers.—James 4:4, The New American Bible, Saint Joseph Edition.
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A.G.E. Fotostock